Villas-Boas praises Tottenham players' great effort in pre-season

Jul 23, 2012 10:10:00 PM

The former Chelsea boss has expressed his delight at his team's progress and expects the White Hart Lane outfit to challenge when the campaign commences against Newcastle

Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas has expressed his delight at the players' efforts during their pre-season tour of America.

The squad are preparing for a game against LA Galaxy at the Home Depot Center, and have had two training sessions to acclimatise to their new surroundings.

The 34-year-old coach is happy with the progress his team are making and is hoping they can build on their form ahead of their first Premier League game of the campaign against Newcastle.

“It's always a difficult first session after the long trip, most of the players are still getting used to the new time zone, most of them woke up early, but it was a great effort," Villas-Boas told the club's official website.

"We're continuing to build on what we've been working on from the start and to improve small bits and pieces, and putting the team together.

"We've come to America and the level of difficulty increases in terms of the opponents and our objective, which [is] to be ready for Newcastle. We're building physically and tactically to be ready for that game."

Spurs travel to the Sports Direct Arena against the Magpies for their 2012-13 Premier League opener on August 18.

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